category nav

Trending: Gold – Part 1

Hi everyone! This is Ashley today, here to kick off another “Trending” series. For the next few weeks, we are going to talk all about gold! If you’ve ever read my blog, you are already well familiar with how much I love gold. But, it wasn’t always that way! I used to be a dedicated silver girl, and avoided all things gold. It just wasn’t “me”, and I just wouldn’t use it. But oh, how things change! Now I can’t get enough gold! And, there are so many golds to choose from: glitter gold, warm golds, yellow golds, champagne golds, brown golds, gold foil, burnished gold, shiny gold, and mirrored gold…

On this page, Guard Cat on duty, I combined several types and finishes of gold. By using so many different types of gold, it creates a rich and full finish. If I had only used one type of gold and then added in a second small amount, the page may feel imbalanced and the golds may appear to clash. When in doubt, add more!

Let’s take a closer look at how many different golds went into this page. I used some of my absolute favorite gold media and gold papers.

Gold glitter paper by American Crafts, put behind plain white cardstock with cut-outs. This is a great alternative to die cutting or electronic cutting that difficult glitter paper. I love how chunky and thick the glitter finish is on this American Crafts paper.

Mistable fabric sun heat embossed with Zing Gold Metallic embossing powder by American Crafts. It is on top of a chipboard speech bubble painted with Heidi Swapp Gold Lame Color Shine. The speech bubbles in #4 and #7 were treated the same way.

Gold foam acorn left over from my Christmas decorations! This was snipped right out of a spray and used as-is. Look for gold around you!

Wood veneer feather covered with German gold glass glitter. It is layered on top of a speech bubble cut from resist paper misted with Heidi Swapp Gold Lame Color Shine.

Glittered foam American Crafts Thickers. Extra easy sparkle!

Punched burnished gold finish metallic paper.

Cardstock speech bubble painted with Martha Stewart Crafts acrylic paint in Gold. The speech bubble in the lower right corner of the page, with the white bow on top, was painted the same.

Now, if you remember above, I told you when in doubt, add more! But what if more is just too much for you? Well, when more is too much, add less! You could easily replicate the look and style of this page, but only using one or three gold elements. Try to remember to either stick to the same gold (the same tone or the same finish) for a highly matched page or combine completely contrasting golds for a more dynamic page.

I stripped the color out of all of the gold elements from my page, and then chose to add in the gold back in to select areas to demonstrate how you could create an awesome gilded page with just a bit less gold than I used in the first version.

Want to make your title jump and sparkle right off the page? Highlight your title:

Selective use of gold can highlight an icon on your page that helps tell the story. I think the gold house with the gold-misted resist heart above is a really good visual representation of how our little orange guard cat must feel about her home:

Use gold to draw the eye around the page. A cluster of three embellished gold speech bubbles placed around the title and photo really helps lead the viewer from the top of the page, to the title, and right down to the photos.

When more is too much, add less! Use selective use and careful placement of gold elements as a design choice and to highlight important features on your page. Sometimes, a lot of gold goes a long way… but sometimes just a little bit of gold goes even farther.

Take a look at my Gold Pinterest board for more gold products, gold inspiration, and gold colorways.

And now, finally, there’s the giveaway! This month we will have an AMAZING prize to give away, thanks to our very generous sponsors. You’ll want to make sure to stop in every week and leave a comment for your chance to win this fabulous prize pack!

Share this article

About Ashley Calder

Ashley started scrapbooking 9 years ago after seeing "modern" scrapbooking in an online gallery for the first time. Finally! She had something to do with all of that pretty paper, ribbon scraps, trinkets, and other bits and bobs that had been collecting in a box. Her unique style combines excellent design, and balances bold trendiness with a delicate vintage sensibility. She has been published in a variety of print and online media, including her sole-authored book, Scraptastic! (F+W Publications, 2008). Ashley resides in southern Ontario with her partner Paul, their three lovely daughters, and two very dull orange cats. You can learn more about Ashley by reading her blog.

Nothing is richer looking than gold is there? I too have been a silver girl but in my home decor mostly. But for bling and jewelry if it can’t be diamonds then let it be gold! I see gold trending on my paper crafts in the near future. Thanks for turning the light on for us.

Haha I hear you on being a silver girl turned gold girl! I always loved silver but bought a pair of flats glittered in gold one day and thought something must be wrong with me! Ha! It was the beginning of something amazing. Anyway, I love the layout with the gold house. You’re right, it does sort of tell a story about how the cat might feel about her home. Too cute.